The invention relates generally to computer-implemented financial transactions, and more particularly relates to processing person-to-person payments and money requests using a computer network.
One individual (the payor) may wish to pay money to another individual (the payee) for any of a variety of reasons. Frequently, the payor owes a debt to the payee. The debt may be an informal IOU or a more formal transaction. Other times, the payor may wish to give the money to the payee as a gift.
Until now, individual payors have typically completed such payments via cash or paper check. More convenient payment methods exist, such as credit cards and bank account debits through electronic fund transactions, however, the payor typically does not have the option to use these other payment methods when the payee is an individual as opposed to a retail business that has been pre-established as an online merchant. Thus, there is a need in the art for enabling individuals to use more convenient money transfer methods.
For individuals who participate in frequent money transfers to or from other individuals, managing all these money transfers is also inconvenient. For example, a payor may receive requests for money from multiple payees through different communication methods, including in person, over the phone, and in writing. Keeping track of requests for money is therefore time consuming. Likewise, the payee is often not sure of the best way to notify the payor of a money request. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a convenient method by which a payee can request money from a payor.
Furthermore, a payor may desire to initiate a particular money transfer at a future time. This may be the case with a birthday gift of money or a debt that is not due until a later date. If the payor attempts to wait until the intended transfer date to give the payee a check or cash, however, the payor runs the risk that the payor will either forget or not have the opportunity to give the check or cash to the payee. This problem is particularly cumbersome when the payor must make recurring payments of a fixed amount, such as for rent in an apartment. Therefore, there is also a need in the art for a mechanism for scheduling future payments that the payor does not want to initiate until a later time. In general, there is a need in the art for safe and convenient methods by which individuals can engage in money transfers.
In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.